You think Marcus Aurelius wasn't prepared? Of course he was. Almost no one received more on-the-job training than he did—roughly two decades under Antoninus. He had fantastic teachers. He was also trained in Stoicism, a philosophy which not only prepared for the worst but never expected the best.
And still?
Still life rocked him. His reign was marked by an unending series of troubles. Misfortune after misfortune befell him. Plagues. War. The death of his children. An unfaithful wife. Surely, this exhausted his reserves. Surely, this taxed him beyond capacity.
And yet…he still had to keep going. As do we all.
Sometimes life feels like it's out to get us. It throws every type of adversity at us. Illness. Financial troubles. Relationship issues. Inequality and injustice. But still, we must keep going.
We can train. We can prepare. We can stock up. We can rehearse in our minds what we need to do. This will not be enough. Because more will be expected of us still, more will be piled onto our plates.
Enough is not enough. We'll need double, maybe more. Especially these days. We'll need to reach deep down inside us to find some more. We'll need to keep going, even on empty. Because it's going to take what it's going to take.
All we can do is take it…or not.
P.S. You can prepare yourself for life's curveballs day-by-day, one piece of fortifying Stoic wisdom at a time. It's why The Daily Stoic book and The Daily Stoic Journal exist. We do this mindful work, this mindful reading, to build our resilience against whatever life throws at us. Each of these books helps to familiarize you with Stoic wisdom—to help you read and reflect on it just a bit each day to help the lessons and ideas stick. You'll be able to apply what you learn to your daily life. And then you can return to that wisdom not only day by day, but week by week, and eventually year after year. (It's also why we created a sturdy, beautiful leather edition of The Daily Stoic as well—you'll want to keep coming back to it.)
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